Transfer 11, Week 6: November 10, 2013 -- The Last One

Well... This is it!  My last email home as a missionary!  I can't even believe it's over...  It's been a crazy year and a half and I would never change a minute of it!  I've loved every second and It's definitely changed my life. :-)

I only have 2 stories to share this week and not much time to share them.  So here we go. :-)

Akiko:

I talked last week about Akiko's birthday.  It was an amazing experience for her and she really did feel SO much love.President Wada called her and talked with her about Baptism to which she said she'd think about it.

Well, this week I was on kokans with Sister Barnes in Yamato.  We decided we were going to go visit Akiko and see how she was doing.  It was a surprise visit so we weren't even sure if she'd be home... but miracle number 1, she was!  She thanked me for making her birthday the most memorable birthday she's ever had.  She also thanked me for the present that I gave her. (A pocket-sized hymnbook)  She said it was the perfect present.  It's too small for her to read the notes, but just big enough to be able to read the words to the hymns... and since it's so small she can carry it with her everywhere she goes.  I talked with her about her birthday and she mentioned a phone call from a man who's name she couldn't remember.  She said he mentioned something about baptism and said "I realized that right now in my life there are so many roads in front of me.  I have to choose one of those roads or I'm not going to progress... I've decided I want to be baptized." :-D  YAAAAAAAAAAY!

Ayda:

On Sister Feist's second day here in Japan we were walking back to the apartment after a very long day of dendo. Both of us were pretty tired. As we were walking back I we began talking to this woman near our apartment. It turned out she was from Iran and had been living in Japan for quite some time. When she heard that Sister Feist had just gotten to Japan she quickly gave us her phone number and said (in perfect English) "If you have any questions or need any help call me!"

We've kept in touch with her ever since then. We came to find out that she was really really busy with work making it hard to meet. Apparently being a model, an actor, and teaching belly dancing is pretty busy. Finally though we were able to make an appointment to meet with her this week. When we got there, both of us were pretty nervous about meeting her... We walked in and of course the first thing she did was offer us coffee. We explained to her quickly about the Word of Wisdom and she said "Wow! That's amazing! I love that! Our bodies really are special." We went on to talking about her modeling job and what it was like and she said "Actually it's really hard. A lot of times they try to get me to wear those really sexy clothes, but that's just not me! I don't like wearing immodest clothes. Like you said, our bodies are special!" She went on to teach us pretty much the entire Law of Chastity. :P We talked with her about how we believed in Eternal Marriage and she said "Wow! That's so good! I want to learn more about your church!" We ended up at the end giving her a Book of Mormon (which she offered to pay for) and committing her to read it. It was incredible and the spirit was there so strongly.

Those prepared people really are out there if we keep searching. Although we may not immediately recognize them as prepared, if we just open our mouths and do those 10 meaningful contacts, God really does put them in our path. :-)

It's been amazing week and I'm so sad to have to leave.  I don't want to go!!!

I love you all so much.  I'm looking forward to seeing you all in 2 weeks. :-)  The church is true!  God lives and loves us SO much.  Everytime I look back on any of my experiences on my mission I can just feel it with every part of me.  God knows us and loves us.  He wants to help us and he always has his hand reached out to us.  I'm so thankful I have had this chance to be his servant and I can't wait to be his servant for eternity.  I have LOVED being a missionary so much. I'm so grateful for the chance I've had to be here among the Japanese people.

Love you all! See you soon. :-)

Sister Christine Grosland

PS: Isaiah 41:10

Transfer 11, Week 5: November 4, 2013

I officially have 2 weeks left from today... How weird is that to think about.  In 3 weeks from today I'll... still be in Japan actually.  x)  But! The next week I'll be back in America... Weeeird.  I don't really like to think about it... I feel like I'm on this emotional roller coaster right now. Some days I'm like "Yeah!  Let's dendo! I never want this to end!"  Other days I'm like "I can't do this for 2 more weeks!  Just send me home now!"  It's been kind of a rough week in that sense...

But let's get to it. :-)

Tuesday:

Sister Feist's BIRTHDAY!  :-D  It was... a really long day.  x)  We started off the day with a Halloween Party by a few of the members for their English Classes.  It was really fun, but really stressful. The kids were all around 10-13 years old and they really don't know much English.  So while the teachers would be giving them directions in English they would just start talking to each other instead of listening... I felt really bad, but tried to make it fun.  When that was over though we were approached by several of the Mom's.  They heard that we taught a free English program at the church and were really interested in coming!  :-D  Yaaaay!

When that was over we went out to the train station to do a kubari-kai (Handing out flyers like crazy! :P).  I saw this woman holding a baby and complimented her.  She stopped and complimented my Japanese and asked what I was doing in Japan.  I explained that we were church missionaries and she said "Wow!  That's interesting!  Did you hear about what happened down in *insert name of place I've never heard of before*?"  I was kind of taken back and said "No..."  She went on talking about what had happened... I'll be honest though I didn't understand everything that was being said.  Here's what I understood.  Some man out in some random place was supposed to be executed.  They put him under a guillotine and let it drop, but it didn't kill him.  The blade couldn't cut his neck.  Then he stood up and faced the crowd and started preaching about World Peace.  She said "Christ died on the cross, right?  You see!  He had no power.  This man has real power and all the world is seeing that now!  Nobody practices Christianity!  All Christians are now starting to worship this man!  There are Christians all over the world who pray to their God and they still have bad things happen to them right?  That's because your God doesn't exist.  He's not real.  Someday when you're going through a hard trial and your praying to your God and you don't get an answer, read this news article and remember what I told you."

-sigh-  I hate getting dendo'd...

After she left I told Sister Feist about what happened and went back to my spot to continue passing out fliers.  About 10 minutes later Sister Feist came up to me and told me about the man she had just talked to.  Apparently this man was even more rude than the woman I had just encountered.  He had said to her "You worship Jesus Christ?  Tell me something. Why wasn't Jesus married?"  Sister Feist tried to answer saying something about how we think marriage is something very sacred and special.  His response: "Yeah, that's 'cause you guys have like 60 wives each!  You should have done your research before you came out here!"

Needless to say, we both walked away from that kubari kai not feeling extremely genki...  Then we headed to the church for a lesson with Miki.  We walked into the church and headed into the cultural hall to set up when... SURPRISE!  A surprise party for Sister Feist!  :-) I've been planning this surprise party for nearly a week now.  I worked my hardest to make it happen and it all worked out lovely!  We had 2 investigators come as well as 4 of our PI's!  Sister Homem bought some DELICIOUS food that we all ate and the Elders brought a bunch of games to play. :-)  It was definitely the funnest part of the day. x)

Wednesday:

We've started a new activity on Wednesday mornings that I've been calling "Mama Eikaiwa".  There's a woman in the ward who has a bunch of friends who really have an interest in learning English, but because they have 2-year-olds in the house it's impossible to come from 7-8:30 on Thursday nights.  So instead we've started teaching them in the mornings!  :-D  This week was the first time we've tried it and it was definitely a success.  We ended up actually talking about the Word of Wisdom with them. :-)  It was way good.

Then we had a mogi lesson with Sister Meguro that was really good.  I learned the Japanese word for "Living Water".  It's so interesting because you here that in English and we think water that's alive or something.  In Japanese what it means is water you need in order to survive.  You drink the water and you live. I love Japanese!

Thursday:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  We had a really fun Halloween.  In the morning we were trick-or-treated by a nearby preschool.  SOOO cute. x)  Then we had a gyoza making party with Fifi (the girl we met at Friends Circle last week!)  There were 10 people there in total and of those 10, 4 of us were members.  We were able to give out a Restoration Pamphlet and another woman really had an interest in the church it seems! :-)  Success!

Then that night we had MUSIC NIGHT!!!  Whaaat!  :-D  It was a lot of fun.  There were about 70 people there total (Not including missionaries) with very little advertisement. About 40 of them were non-members.  It was a lot of fun. :-)

Friday:

I went on my first kokan of the transfer! First of 4.  The next one actually starts tonight!  Sister Ellingson and I worked together here in Fujisawa.  It was way fun.  We went to see a few of Sister Ellingsons old investigators and also had a mogi lesson with one of the members.  Loved it.  That night we had a lesson with Hiroko.  She's been reading the Book of Mormon and LOVES it.  She just finished 1 Nephi 5 and she said she really relates to Sariah.  She said that Sariah felt really real to her.  She's starting to find answers on her own in the Book of Mormon as well as applying what she's reading to herself!  I LOVE it!

Saturday:

We had District Meeting and then at 5pm a BAPTISM!  And guess who came... Toshiko!!!  Oh my gosh it was an incredible miracle.  This was the first time that Toshiko has been able to see a baptism service and she said it really touched her.  She said that she could tell baptism was something really important and that she felt something different watching it. :-)  Next baptism : Toshiko!

After the baptism we went to a members house for a dinner appointment.  Sister Feist got to eat octopus for the first time.  x)  I asked her how it was and she answered "Chewy."  Hahahaha!

Sunday:

Akiko's birthday!  I got her a present from the temple store last temple day and gave that to her.  She came a little bit late to Relief Society so I also announced her birthday to all the sisters in Relief Society and asked them to wish Akiko a happy birthday.  They all did. :-)  Akiko was so overwhelmed she started to cry.  She said that at her age nobody remembers her birthday anymore and she felt so loved that people cared about her enough to simply wish her a happy birthday. :-)  After church I also had President Wada give her a quick call to wish her a happy birthday which he gladly agreed to.  He asked her how her birthday was and she again talked about how much love she felt and how happy she was at church.  She said "I can tell by the feelings I get around all of you that this has to be true."  President Wada asked her if the missionaries have invited her to be baptized yet and he asked her to talk to us about it.  She said she would. :-D  Seed planted!  I've been waiting for this since June!!  We're hoping to meet with her and invite her to be baptized really soon. :-)

And that was my week!  It's been a really long week and I'm REALLY tired.  I'm definitely starting to feel a year and a half's work catching up to me. Just a little bit longer now!

Love you all so much!  Hope you all have had a fantastic week!  See you all very soon!

Love,

Christine

Transfer 11, Week 4: October 27, 2013

Well, everyone.  This is it.  The final countdown. (Ten points if you just burst out into song. ;D)  Hahaha!  Now that we're getting to the end here, things have been just flying by.  Here we go!

Tuesday:

Tuesday was a pretty fun day.  This last week was one of the Elders I work with (Elder Merrill) birthday!  That morning we had a fun Relief Society Activity where we made Halloween Cookies!  The Relief Society Presidency asked us to come in and help with the activity and it ended up being a miracle we were there since 3 of the women who came were nonmembers invited by members! :-)  Look at Fujisawa Members go!  Ever since all the talk of Hastening the Work the Fujisawa ward has picked up this Dendo Fire that is incredible!  We've been introduced to so many random people this last week.  It's been so fun. :-)

After the activity we took a bunch of the cookies and went to the Elders apartment loaded with two bags of balloons and random other things from Daiso (The Japanese version of a dollar store).  When we got to their apartment though we realized that we forgot to bring tape with us.  xD  Not to worry though.  We were able to tie half of the balloons to everything. >:) It was hilarious.

Then that night we had a surprise party for Elder Merrill that Miki came to!  It was way fun. :-) About Miki though... She recently found a part-time job and now she doesn't want to come to church... She's basically dropped us... It's waaay depressing...  We're trying to help her build some strong relationships with the members, but it's been way hard.  All of the members are WAY good a fellow-shipping her when they see her, but what we need is someone who will be her friend outside of church as well.  Someone who will invite to her things and call her randomly to see how she's doing and such... Hopefully we'll find someone like that soon. :-)

Wednesday:

I woke up Wednesday morning just feeling really really sick... Honestly, Wednesday was just not the greatest day.  We had an all white day (no plans...) and just really bad attitudes.  We went out and dendo'd but the whole day just felt heavy.  It kinda sucked. :P

Thursday:

Probably one of the hardest moments ever... All day Thursday we had a Zone Conference.  President Wada gave us all trainings for about 9 hours.  It was really helpful, but at the same time I couldn't help but feel like a lot of what was being said didn't apply to me.  They were talking about the future of the mission... It was pretty hard to focus... Especially because, since it was my last Zone Conference, it was my turn to give my "Dying" testimony. (All the missionaries going home bear their testimonies at their last Zone Conference.. We all call it a "dying missionary".)  I was SO nervous.  I had NO idea what I was going to talk about... I ended up bearing my testimony about one of the hardest parts of my mission.  I cried the entire time.  xD  I'm pretty sure every missionary in that room now thinks I'm a big crybaby.  Whatever.  ;)

After the conference was over I was approached by several people thanking me for my testimony. One of the people that approached me was the Fujisawa Stake President.  He thanked me for my testimony and asked me to bear it again for a youth Sacrament Meeting the next Sunday. 

Friday:

In the morning we were asked to go help out some of the members with something they do called "Friends Circle". It's a bunch of 2-5 year olds who all come together and play games and sing songs together and such. :-)  This week they were doing a Halloween Party and wanted us to teach a really fast English Class and help out with Trick-or-Treating!  :-)  It was SO cute.  I loved it so much. :-) The amazing part though was actually after it was over.  After it was over a woman walked up to us and introduced herself as a member of Yamato ward.  She pointed out one of the other woman there and said "That's my friend.  This is the first time I've invited her to any kind of a church activity, but hopefully she'll come again.  If she does, make sure you talk to her!"  We made a note and were about to leave... Then this friend (Fifi is her name) came up to us and asked us if we'd like to make gyoza with her sometime!  :-D  We set up a date to do it and now she's going to be teaching a bunch of members how to make Gyoza. :-)  We're way excited about it.  Not just because we love gyoza (:P) but this will definitely be a major defining moment for Fifi in her life.  She'll have a chance to make a lot of friends with members of the church hopefully bringing her one step closer to her Heavenly Father. :-D

Also on Friday we had a lesson with Hiroko.  Hiroko is still progressing really well.  She pulled out her Book of Mormon this week and asked us a few really good questions!  We ended up being able to teach her a little bit about the Plan of Salvation and invite her to be baptized.  She said no, but she does still want to keep learning from the Book of Mormon.  :-)

Saturday:

I got really sick and was ordered by Sister Homem not to leave the apartment.  xP  Honestly though there was a LOT of things that needed to be done inside the apartment anyway so we just spent all day doing inside dendo.  We emailed all of our PI's, spent 3 hours updating our Area Book, ate, sent out more emails, and just worked.  I was amazed.  Although we didn't leave the apartment we were WAY busy all day.  Talk about a miracle. :-)

Sunday:

President and Sister Wada came to church!  Honestly, yesterday was just jam-packed with miracles. I  can't even tell you half of them. President Wada really got the ward SO fired up about missionary work!  We've been approached by SO many people since he spoke.  Yesterday 2 different members talked with us about people they're hoping to refer to us.  The work is definitely progressing.

After normal church was the Youth Sacrament Meeting.  It was sooo cute.  x)  All these 12-18 year olds trying to conduct a Sacrament Meeting all by themselves. :P  It was pretty fun.  I was waaaay nervous to bear my testimony again, but as I stood up to speak I definitely was able to feel the Gift of Tongues take over. :-)  I don't know how I said half the things I said, but it came out and it was good!  After that, we went out and dendo'd!  President Wada has been having all of us count how many Meaningful Contacts we have a day lately.  It's this new thing he calls "The Power of Ten".  With about 100 missionaries in our mission, if each one of us has 10 meaningful contacts every day that's... A LOT of meaningful contacts.  x)   Yesterday, we saw a huge miracle... 24 meaningful contacts. :-)  I talked to 4 of those. xP  My companion is on FIRE!  She's amazing.  Love her!

Well, I've got to get off now, but I love you all!  I hope you all have a fantastic week!  See you all in about 20 days or so!  :-D

The church is true!

Love,

Christine

Transfer 11, Week 3: October 21, 2013

Woah... The transfer is almost half over already!  I can't even believe it!

Well, this week has been a lot of fun so I'll fill you in on all the good stuff!

Mogi Time!:

This week we were able to have a lot of mogi lessons (fake lessons where the members pretend to be investigators so we can practice teaching and practice our Japanese skills) that were really helpful!  My companion really is SO good at Japanese.  Much better than I was when I first got here and she's picking up on more and more every day.  Actually today, she had several conversations on her own with people on the train in JUST Japanese.  She's the best. ;)

Sister Barbie:

This week we went to the Bike Store to pick out a bike for my companion.  We got there and I started talking about what kind of a bike she'd probably need and asked her if she saw any bikes that she wanted.  That's when we found this pink bike. :-)  God put it there JUST for Sister Feist.  She saw it and immediately said "I want that one."  I called the bike store over and asked him a bunch of questions about it.  I asked him specifically how to take it apart for transfers and such.  He said that it was very difficult to take apart because you needed a special tool.  Sister Feist really wanted that bike so she asked "What kind of tool? Show me!"  The man brought over the tool and she says "Oh that's easy!"  She grabs the tool and takes apart the bike right there. xD  The mans jaw seriously dropped to the floor.  My companion just smiled and said "This one."

My companion is the best. x)

Return to Kichijoji:

Yes. We were in Kichijoji AGAIN this week.  x)  This week they had an activity where 70-80 SA's from all over Tokyo came to Kichijoji to dendo with the missionaries.  We all met up in Kichijoji and went out and dendo'd!  It was such an amazing experience.  I got to see a lot of the members from Urayasu and Kichijoji and catch up with them!  We went out streeting for about 2 hours and in those 2 hours saw tons of miracles.  After it was over though, I was exhausted.  You know you're getting to be an old missionary when only 2 hours of streeting exhausts you.  Sister Feist was pretty out of it as well and when we were on the train she literally fell asleep standing.  We tried so hard to talk to people despite our exhaustion though and Heavenly Father rewarded us.

As I was standing there, the girl standing next to me accidentally bumped into me a little bit.  She apologized and I smiled and said "Wow!  That's such a cute sweater!  Where did you buy it?!"  We ended up talking for a little while and she asked why we were in Japan.  I told her we were church volunteers and asked her what she thought about church.  She said she didn't know what church was like and asked about it.  I talked to her a little about how much love and peace I feel when I go to church.  Then my sweet companion, in her very limited Japanese, says "Do you want to go to church?"  Honestly, when she said it I cringed a little bit.  I was like "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"  But to my surprise, the girl said "Yes!  I want to see!"  We gave her the address to the closest church to her and invited her to go.  We were also able to give her a Book of Mormon and she promised to read it. :-)  Unfortunately we reached our stop before we could actually get her contact information, but because I had ours written up I quickly gave that to her and asked her to call us. (Fail, I know, but it was better than nothing.)

The last few days that has happened a few times.  We've been able to give away a ton of pamphlets and Books of Mormon and all kinds of things.  God is truly preparing people for us. :-)

I don't have enough time to go into everything else that happened to me this week unfortunately... Shortened version: We had this amazing fireside all about member missionary work.  Lately I've been SO exhausted and I keep thinking to myself "I can't wait to go home so I can just take a break."  ... but I realized something this week.  If I am truly converted to this gospel, I won't stop when I get home.  This is a lifelong promise I've made to my Heavenly Father.  When I was baptized I promised Him that I would obey His commandments and one of those commandments is to declare the gospel to all the Earth.  Even when I come home, I will still be my Heavenly Fathers servant.  I cannot wait to serve Him for the rest of eternity. :-)

I know this gospel is true.  I've been watching it change the lives of so many people around me.  I know that this truly is the ONE way to happiness.  God loves us all so much. :-)  I hope that you know that.

This week has been fantastic and I'm looking forward to another fantastic week.  This next week I'll have to give my dying testimony which I'm pretty nervous about.  I'll make sure you guys hear about it...

Love you all so much!  See you in less than 30 days!

Love,

Christine

PS: Alma 37:6-7

A Personal Note from Mom,

We have 32 days before we leave for Japan to pick up our missing child.  I know Christine has very mixed feelings about coming home as she loves Japan and the people there so much, but I also know she is REALLY excited about coming home and seeing everyone again.  I am excited and scared to be going out to Japan, especially since we have never left the country.  It will be the experience of a lifetime.  We are all going-the whole family.  I know....Look out Japan!

Just so everyone knows, our plan is to be home on Nov. 28 (Thanksgiving Day) in the evening after driving home from Los Angeles.  If you would like to come see Christine, she will be home on Friday, but will probably need some time to adjust to the new time schedule.  She will be losing a whole day.  So, I would suggest Saturday or Sunday. 

I am so grateful to Christine for the example she has been to all of us.  This mission was not easy.  She struggled and even wanted to come home for a while, but she stuck it out.  She has grown in ways I never expected and yet she is still the same sweet Christine we all know.  I can't wait to have her home!

Thanks all!

~Mom

Transfer 11, Week 2: October 15, 2013

皆様こんばんは！

Hope everyone has had a fantastic week!  Mine has been pretty crazy....  But then again, when is my week not crazy.  x)

 

Tuesday and Wednesday:

TRANSFER CALLS! 

Well, transfer calls were definitely a huge surprsie. :-)  Here's the results.  Sister Miwa has abandoned her trainer and gone to open up a brand new area called Odawara as a sempai! (She's just that good. :-D)  Sister Thomas is opening a new area as well called Fussa as a follow up trainer.  That leaves me here in Fujisawa with... a new missionary!  :-)  That's right. I'm training again.  Woooo!

So because Tuesday was transfer calls that kind of took over the whole days plans.  xP  We had to get packed and ready to go and everything so that was exciting. Wednesday was also filled with packing and cleaning the apartment.  However, Sister Ellingson and I also had a childrens Eikaiwa and a normal Eikaiwa to teach in Yamato at evening... So we had to leave for that.  At Eikaiwa we had WAY too much fun and lost track of time.  Before we knew it, it was nearly 9 and we had about 40 minutes to get back to the Fujisawa Sisters Apartment which was a train and a bus ride away... x)  She and I ran all the way from the Yamato church building to the train station, from the train station to the bus, and from the bus stop to the apartment making it JUST in time.  xD  When we walked in Sister Miwa and Sister Thomas kind of freaked out and were like "Are you okay?!?"   It was pretty entertaining.

 

Thursday:

On Thursday morning we woke up bright and early to pick up our new missionaries.  All of us were way nervous.  Out of the 7 Fujisawa missionaries 3 of us were made trainers and we all rode the train together to pick them up.  It was a very long train ride. xP  When we finally got to Kichijoji and met all the sisters I noticed one very big thing... of the 5 new sisters, only 1 was nihonjin... Uh-oh. :P

Well, because I don't have enough time to make this super dramatic, my new companion is Sister Feist!  :-)  She's like 6' tall, blonde, blue eyes, SUPER gaijin!  I love her!  x)  It's been SO much fun.  On Thursday we spent most of the day in Kichijoji doing trainings and such on how to be good trainers and trainee's and such. Finally we came back to Fujisawa for Eikaiwa.  At Eikaiwa we had a new student named Momoko!  We talked to her for like 20 minutes and were able to get her email address!  Love her already!

 

Friday:

Sister Feist's first lesson in Japan... and oh my gosh it was.... Yes.  It was with Enomoto... but we weren't able to find a member to go with us to visit her so we were on our own... I didn't understand everything, and Enomoto kind of got mad at us and... yeah.  It was just a disaster... Hopefully we'll be able to make up for it later... That night though we had a lesson with Hiroko that went REALLY well.  We read 1 Nephi 3 with her and she loved it.  :-)  She's really progressing well.  :) That night, we got a call from Sister Miwa.  Turns out their new apartment's gas system wasn't working and so they had to spend the night with us in Fujisawa again!  :-D  YAAY!

 

Saturday & Sunday:

Conference!!  :-) It was fantastic as usual.   I loved it SO much.  There were so many good talks!  It was so weird though knowing that this was my last conference in Japan... After it was over there was just this weird feeling that hung in the air like "Well... That's it..."  I'm excited to come home, but... Man it's weird.

 

Monday:

Not P-day!  :-)  We met up with Momoko from Eikaiwa and went down to a big concert in Kichijoji where Bless4 and Jett Weiss performed!  It was a BLAST! It reminded me so much of one of Aunt Rachel's or Uncle Dan's concerts!  We had so much fun and Momoko was able to meet a lot of new people!

And that was my week!  It was a ton of fun and LOTS of crazy things happened. Sister Feist is an INCREDIBLE missionary and I'm so excited to work with her!  She is going to see SO many incredible miracles on her mission and change so many lives. Now, I've just got the pressure of teaching her to be able to do it. ;)

 

I love you all so much!  Thanks so much for the prayers and the letters!  They mean so much to me!  I'll talk to you all again next week!  Have a fantastic week!

 

Love,

Christine

Transfer 11, Week 1: October 6, 2013

Hey everyone!  Hope everyone is doing genki today!

This week has definitely been one of the most crazy weeks of my mission.  So many things happened I don't even know where to start!  Here we go though!

Exchanges:

This weeks exchange was with Sister Tada!  I was pretty nervous going into the exchange because she and I have had a really interesting history.  The exchange ended up being REALLY good though!  She and I talked the entire time and really had a lot of fun. :-)  She told me that lately she's been feeling like nobody likes her... I really really did feel God's strength getting me through the exchange. While being with her I really felt God putting words in my mouth of what to say to her and how to help her.  It was a really good exchange and I was actually way sad when it was over!  I don't know if I'll still be over her this next transfer or not, but I sure hope so.

Kichijoji Madness:

So, this week I've spent all of 1 full day in Fujisawa... The rest of the week I've been EVERYWHERE!  Monday we went to the Beach. Tuesday to Wednesday was exchanges with Sister Tada.  Thursday was Mission Leadership Council.  Friday we came to Kichijoji and Sunday night we came back to Kichijoji again!  Why am I in Kichijoji you ask?

Well.

One of my companions has been having problems with her stomach since week 2 of last transfer... I've been WAY worried about her ever since.  She hasn't been able to sleep for more than 20 minutes a day since then because her stomach has hurt too much. I finally was able to convince her to go to the hospital this week though... So we spent the night Thursday night in Kichijoji and then went with Sister Wada Friday morning to the hospital.  At the hospital they did a check up and made an appointment for today.  That's actually where she is right now... while I'm with a NEW companion!  Until Thursday... Right now I'm companions with Sister Ellingson.  :-)  It's been way fun here in Kichijoji!  It's waaaay 懐かしい！  (Sorry, use google translate. xP)  I got to see a few of my old investigators and I've emailed a ton of them!  :-)

I wish I could give you more details on how my companion is doing, but I don't really know... I won't know until later tonight, so for now... She's in the hospital... and I'm praying that she's okay. :/  Keep her in your prayers!

Thursday:

Last but not least.  The BIGGEST miracle I've seen on my mission.  For the last 2 transfers or so we've been teaching Toshiko.  I've talked about her before, but just a quick review of her... She's been meeting with missionaries off and on for about 8 years now.  She loves missionaries, but doesn't really apply the gospel to herself.  It's just sort of a nice story.  She's flat out told the missionaries over and over again that she will not be baptized.  She's apologized over and over for wasting our time.

About 3 weeks ago, President Wada had a fireside in Fujisawa for our investigators.  We invited Toshiko to come and she, very bluntly (which is TOTALLY opposite Japanese character) said "I will not go because he is just going to tell us to be baptized."  Well, Sister Miwa followed the prompting of the spirit and invited her a second time.  Again, Toshiko VERY bluntly told us no... but we didn't stop. We decided to invite her a third time even though it's more than a little rude in Japanese culture, ESPECIALLY because of how Toshiko had rejected us.  Then, to make it worse, the third time we invited her, we had President Wada talk to her on the phone.  Finally she promised to "Show her face". :P  Well, when she came she had a really good experience and ever since then things with her went up a pace.  We had a really good lesson with her about the Priesthood and for the first time she said that it made sense to her!  There was this new light in her eye. :-)

This Thursday we had another lesson scheduled, but I had a Mission Leadership Council to go to so my companions and I had no time to prep a lesson for her.  I told my companions to come up with a lesson plan while I was gone and fill me in once I came back.  They sat for 4 hours trying to come up with a plan. Every plan that they made though just didn't feel right and meanwhile the clock was ticking.  When they came to pick me up, they still had no plan.

Now for my side. :P

At Mission leadership Council we practiced teaching The Gospel of Jesus Christ using the pamphlet and I failed miserably at it.  It was WAY hard!  I just couldn't do it!  After the practice, I glanced at the clock and realized that our lesson with Toshiko was coming up and I still had no idea what I was teaching.  Then I got the strongest impression that I needed to teach The Gospel of Jesus Christ using the pamphlet.  I was like "WHAT?!  You're crazy.  I can't!  I just tried and failed miserably!"  But the prompting came again... So then I was like "Well, what do we commit her to?!  Baptism!?"  Right as I thought that, president Wada wrote "Baptismal Commitment" on the white board.  xD  Message received. :P

I filled my companions in on how to teach the lesson on the train and we practiced and practiced until we got back.  The lesson with Toshiko went SO smoothly and was SO powerful.  The spirit was there SO strongly.  At the end we invited her to be baptized and... She didn't say no!  She said "I know I need to be baptized.  Baptism is the next step.  But not now.. Once I know this is true I will be baptized."  WHAT!?! :-D :-D :-D

I'm out of time!  I hope you guys all have a fantastic week!  I love you all so much and I can't wait to see you all again in just a few weeks!  Talk to you again soon!

The church is true!

Love you!

Love,

Christine